Epic+Poetry-+Heroism

Topic
toc **ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS**: How does the use of the epic hero lead to a better understanding of human faith and frailty? What have these tales told us about the people who share and hold on to them?
 * The Epic **

Common Core Standards

 * RI.9-10.1.** Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
 * RI.9-10.3.** Analyze how the author unfolds an analysis or series of ideas or events, including the order in which the points are made, how they are introduced and developed, and the connections that are drawn between them.
 * RI.9-10.6.** Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how an author uses rhetoric to advance that point of view or purpose.
 * RI.9-10.7**. Analyze various accounts of a subject told in different mediums (e.g., a person’s life story in both print and multimedia), determining which details are emphasized in each account.

Suggested Student Objectives

 * Identify and explain the elements and structure of an epic poem
 * identify and explain the characteristics of an epic hero
 * analyze the relationship between myths or legends and epic poetry
 * examine the historical context of literary works
 * compare and contrast how related themes may be treated in different genres (ex: epic poetry and contemporary nonfiction)

Suggested Texts
English - //Beowulf// Greek - //The Odyssey// (Homer) Mesopotamian - //The Epic of Gilgamesh// African - //The Epic of Sundiata// Indian - //The Ramayana: A Modern Retelling of the Great Indian Epic// Chinese - //Romance of the Three Kingdoms// (Guanzhong) Native American - //Popol Vuh//

Suggested Additional Readings
Sophocles (C. 497-406 B.C.) Aristotle, Classic Technique and Greek Drama [|Lecture about Three Kingdoms]

Resource Links
A History of Ancient Greece The Ancient Greeks [|Teacher's Guide to Beowulf] [|Beowulf Historical Resources] [|The Magazine for the National Endowment for the Humanities] [|Gilgamesh: Invitation to World Literature] [|Epic Qualities of Sundiata] [|Sundiata - Boston University] [|Lessons of the Indian Epics] [|The Ramayana: Lessons in Dharma] [|//Romance of the Three Kingdoms// Study Guides] [|Popol Vuh High School Literature Unit] [|Popol Vuh: Invitation to Literature]

Activities
The teacher may choose one epic to focus on with the entire class and address the essential question and objectives based on the one epic.

The teacher may also choose to assign various epics to groups (or allow groups to choose an epic) to study and address the essential question and objectives. Upon completion, each group (in the form of a literature circle or jigsaw) can present their epic to the greater class, thus teaching their peers about their assigned/chosen epic. The teacher can then have students compare and contrast two or more of the epics they have learned about in addressing the essential question and objectives of the unit.

Assessments

 * Students may choose an aspect of the epic as a topic for his/her research portfolio.***
 * Formative assessments throughout the reading of the literary work should include quizzes, journals and/or reading reviews.
 * Students may be assigned research of the geographic area of the literary work and present its connection to the development of the text.
 * Students may be assigned an art project in which they present a visual representation of a specific person, event or lesson from the literary work.
 * Students may be assigned a creative writing piece in which they choose one event on the hero's journey and re-write the event in modern times using himself/herself as the hero or a famous modern figure as the hero.
 * Students may be assigned an argumentative essay in which they create a thesis statement based on a specific aspect of either the characteristics of the hero or the enduring tests on the hero's journey, and argue its connection to the theme of the literary work.